"Falcon Beach" is just another typical Hollywood success story. Set in a (nonexistent) quaint New England town surrounded by lakes, it's actually shot in Winnipeg, Manitoba, about 1,500 miles from Canada's East and West Coasts.

Steve Byers, 29, has top billing as 19-year-old hottie Jason Tanner, a rangy, well-sculpted youngster with rippling abs who helps his no-nonsense mother, Peggy (Jill Teed), run the modest family marina while aspiring to become a professional wakeboarder - undoubtedly with stardom and financial security in mind.

Byers is joined by a crop of fresh faces, some of whom also take years off their ages with the standard layers of makeup, good lighting and excellent camera work. They include the sexy women in his life: Devon Weigel, who portrays Jason's tall ex-girlfriend and model Tanya, and Jennifer Kydd as little rich kid Paige. It isn't always a foot race.

"It has been a pretty wild ride out in Winnipeg so far," Byers said, who starred in the two-hour backdoor pilot last year and is featured in 13 episodes of the coming-of-age prime-time soap this year. "I showed up a couple of weeks early to get wakeboarding instructions - the water was about 58 degrees and it was a bit unsettling, to say the least.

"The wakeboarding stunt and training guys were able to give me a crash course - no pun intended - in wakeboarding, from the fundamentals to some tricks, but I'm happy to leave the tough stuff to the pros," he continued. "And shooting in October, we worked in a snowstorm - pretty upsetting. We have already received a great reception in Canada and hoping for a substantially larger audience in the U.S."

Once "Falcon Beach" wrapped the first season in Winnipeg, the Toronto native sped back home to star in a horror movie titled "Left for Dead" and promote the recent release of a German-made feature film called "Blaze." He co-stars in the venture with his girlfriend since acting school, fellow Canadian Jennifer Steede.

"This is the second time we have worked together," Byers said, laughing. "The first time was in a movie called 'A Simple Wish' with Martin Short, Mara Wilson and Kathleen Turner. I am the guy kissing his girlfriend (Jennifer) in the park as Robert Pastorelli rides his bicycle between us. If you blinked, you missed us. So, yes, we have a long professional history together."

Born in Toronto's affluent Scarborough area, Byers was raised - along with two sisters - in Markham, just north of the city. His parents, both (retired) school principals, had no objections when he opted to study fine art at Ontario's highly respected Unionville School for the Arts. They were less than pleased when he dropped out of the University of Western Ontario after only two years.

"My education was a sticky issue with my parents that caused some arguments, but like with most actors, it was something that I needed to do," he recalled. "It was sort of selfish in the beginning, but after I started working at it I realized that it was part of my soul. That I wasted a little time and money studying drama and psychology at university couldn't be helped."

With solid confidence born of total ignorance, the ambitious youngster headed straight for Toronto and soon made his five-second screen debut in "A Simple Wish." He followed it up with a nebulous guest shot on "La Femme Nikita," then settled in for three long years of waiting tables and other odd jobs between auditions.

A recurring role on MTV's "2Gether" at the turn of the century soon led to guest starring roles on a string of series produced in Canada, including "First Wave," "The Sausage Factory," "Glory Days, "John Doe," "1-800-Missing," "Mutant X" and "Kevin Hill." Byers also earned featured parts in such television and feature films as "The Wedding Dress," "Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice," "House of the Dead" and "My Brother's Keeper."

With "Falcon Beach" already picked up for next season, Byers is looking at a long, hot summer in Winnipeg and beautiful lake locations in the general vicinity.

"Toronto is my home base," he explained, "and Winnipeg is a great place where I work - especially up around the lake where we do most of the exteriors. But everything closes at 9 o'clock, and that kills the weekend. All you can do after that is push over Port-A-Potties and tip cows."